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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36587
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36587
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

As the other answers have noted, the cast of Game of Thrones do not count as "disposable characters". A character is only really disposable if their **only** contribution to the plot is getting killed (and if their getting killed doesn't contribute anything to the plot, you'll want to ask yourself why they're even there in the first place).

There are three types of disposable characters:

- **Redshirts**. Characters aligned with the protagonists whose entire purpose is to get killed, just to demonstrate how dangerous the Villain/Monster/Deadly Artifact/Whatever of the Week is. We don't care that much when they get shot/stabbed/suffocated/melted/whatever, because we only met them five minutes ago. We do care that the same thing might happen to the protagonists. (Spoiler alert: it almost always doesn't.)
- **Mooks**. The antagonist's faceless goons. They exist solely so the protagonist(s) can show off how powerful and skilled they are by killing them. Often by the dozen. One or two may receive some extra characterisation (a random mook in _Code Geass_ turns out to have been the father of one of the main characters, for example), but by and large we don't care about them. Sometimes they'll be killed by the antagonist instead, in a fit of rage, to show how dangerous and unstable they are.
- **The Victim of the Week**. As you mentioned, this is the murder victim in a detective story. They're there to be killed, otherwise there wouldn't be a story. However, they're generally more important than redshirts and mooks, as their death is the entire basis for the plot. We see the effect their death has on those around them. We learn about who they were as a person over the course of the investigation. We may even see parts of their life via flashback.

Those are the only real circumstances in which it's acceptable to treat a character as disposable, and just kill them without giving them any prior character development or plot relevance.

Original score: 17